l; and may He be pleased that
within the days of your Majesty we may see these kingdoms converted
to the faith, and that your Majesty may enjoy this reputation first
on earth and then in heaven. Amen. Manila, June 24, 1590.

_Fray Domingo_, Bishop of the Philipinas.

Two Letters from Domingo de Salazar to Felipe II

Sire:

Five decrees of your Majesty came to me this year of ninety in the
ship "Santiago," which arrived at this port on the last of May. They
are all dated at Madrid, four on the twenty-third of June of the
year eighty-seven, and the fifth on the eighteenth of February of
eighty-eight. After perusing the contents of the said decrees, I can
truly not restrain my surprise that there can be men in the world who
dare to say and declare things which are not certainly proved to be
the truth, much less to give such information to their king. To report
to one's sovereign the contrary of what happens, or to affirm what
one is not certain is the truth, is a most grave offense, worthy of
all punishment and chastisement. Such persons may properly be called
destroyers of their countries, because, in not giving information
in accordance with the principles of truth, they fail to remedy the
evils and provide the good which is necessary for the preservation
of the land. As this commonwealth is so far away from your Majesty,
it has to be governed, not by what your Majesty sees and knows,
but by the information received by him regarding it. This must be
according to the good or bad intention of the informer. Consequently,
this commonwealth is subjected to many hardships and misfortunes, by
the fault not of your Majesty--with whose most holy zeal and desire
for the welfare of this land we are well acquainted--but of us here
who send information. There are but few of us who, oblivious of our own
interests and pretensions, now fix our eyes on the common good alone,
and seek only this; but the most of us seek only our own interests,
our informations and reports are shaped by these, as appears by the
increase of the tributes which your Majesty commands to be made. As
this is discussed, however, in another letter, I will go to no greater
length than to say that, if your Majesty were present here, no orders
would be given to increase the tributes of these miserable people,
but rather they would pay less. But he who informed your Majesty
that more tribute can be paid has already accounted or will account
to God also. I